Based on an award-winning and international best-seller, first-person narrative non-fiction book about using dreams and intuitions to survive cancer three times when conventional medical scientific information failed to find it. It's a true story that may change your belief system and possibly shake it to its foundations.
We are never alone in our hours of need and this has never been more evident than in my story.

Friday, July 13, 2012

My name is Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos and I am
a woman on a mission to save lives and teach people how to become victims no
more by living their lives to the fullest despite life’s challenges.

There is almost always a point in the process of life where
logic, reason, and medical expertise fail.At this point people often slip through the cracks, sometimes never
recovering from dire situations. We forget that we hold the key to a victorious
life rather than victims of policies, practices and unpredictable circumstances.

As a
two-time breast cancer survivor whose cancer was missed both times by doctors
and the tests on which they relied, I am determined to raise awareness about
the importance of self advocacy, listening to our bodies, and trusting in our
inner-guidance that often comes in the form of dreams. We can choose not to be
a victim in life.

“Kathy, go home. You are healthy,” my doctor
told me again after my third mammogram, blood test and physical exam. I knew I
had breast cancer. But my doctos would not listen to me. “Mammagrams are our
Gold Level Policy for finding cancer and you don’t have it.”

But
that night my nightmares returned, told me again that I had breast cancer and
to return the next day to my doctor, without a scheduled appointment. “You need
exploratory surgery to find the cancerous spot.” In the dream, my guide handed
me a small white feather and said, “If you use this feather to verbally fence
against your doctor’s tests tomorrow, you will win and get the surgery you
need. Believe,” my guide said and stepped out of my dream.

My
choice was to trust my nightmare or be a victim of misdiagnosis. What a
decision! My doctor had undisputable medical tests from a leading cancer hospital
in his “war chest.” I had an imaginary feather from a dream in mine.My biggest challenge was who to believe, my
doctor or my dream. And how to convince the one I did not believe that my
choice was to be taken seriously. I believed in my guided dream and lived to
write about it. Five years later I chose to self advocate and trust my dreams
again rather than be a victim of hospital policy that was not in my favor.
Against all odds, I survived stage four cancer.The medical community had let me down twice. Yet, I chose to use my
emotions of anger and fear to spur myself to action rather than allowing them
to throw me into the defeated mentality of a victim.

The chance of my dreams finding cancer missed by “state
of the art medical tests” twice was
as lucky as winning the lottery two times in a row. Luck had little to do with
it. Devine intervention did. Listen to your physician within. Don’t tell
your Higher Power how big your troubles are. She already knows. Tell your
troubles how big your Higher Power is. Always work with your doctors,
but never forget that you must make the final decisions, especially concerning
life and death.

While undergoing months of chemotherapy,
radiation treatment and surgery, I always carried jokes and affirmations in my
pocket and read them aloud during challenging moments. This taught me to “laugh
until it healed.” Laughter raised my level of emotional vibration from low
patient to high Thriver. I also learned to live by the rule, “Fake it ‘til you
make it.” This is a form of role playing. Role playing is therapy often used by
psychologists and psychiatrists. It is pretending whichcan change behaviors and emotions. This can
be the first step toward becoming a survivor and ultimately a Thriver. Pretend
to be happy until you truly are.Smile
when you want to cry, and you may find that you are filling with joy. Embrace
your troubled emotions with inner-joy to help keep them balanced. That is a key
to health.

Here are a few of my favorite affirmations
and a joke that kept me balanced.

Affirmation ♥~ I nourish my mind, body and spirit with dreams and
meditations.

JOKE: A wife invited
some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,
“Would you like to say the blessing?”
“I wouldn't know what to say,” the little girl replied.
“Just say what you hear Mommy say,” the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said,
“Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”

You cannot be a victim without your
permission. That permission can be given as active actions, verbal agreements
or passive acquiescence through silence. Take responsibility for your actions.
Dare to be the little nut that stands its ground to become a tall oak tree. Know
your boundaries. Learn to say “Yes” to yourself by saying “No” to others. This
is not being selfish. It is being responsible. If you do not take care of
yourself before you take care of others, you will set yourself up for defeat by
being an empty well trying to give nourishing water. Nourish yourself first.

Here are
seven rules for becoming a victim no more:

·Joy and sadness cannot
share the same time and space because they are polar opposites. The same is
true of victim and victor.

·To be in pain is
human. To suffer is a choice. Choose not to suffer.

·View mistakes and
difficult situations as opportunities to learn and you will never be victimized
or defeated by challenges.

·Victory is a state of
mind as well as a state of being. So, set your mind to be victorious in all
circumstances.

·Respect your fears but
don’t let them rule your life. They remind you that you are alive. Let them
guide you to make correct decisions.

·Self advocate for the things you need in life
and you will become a productive member of society and fulfilled human being.

·Remember that you are
never alone in your hour of need.We all
have spiritual guides. We are their job and they take their job seriously.

Loving family members who have
died are often given permission to help us by appearing in our dreams with
messages of love, guidance and strength. We
often forget that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are
spiritual beings having a human experience on the earth plane. Surviving trauma
of any kind is part of the experience of life. Our spirit can connect with
spiritual and Devine guidance though dreams, prayer and meditation. The dream
realm is a way our spirit can phone home for help. Listen to your inner-guidance.
Believe in the power of your dreams.

I am an advocate for organizations and
movements based on encouraging women to stand up and be heard.Stories of women who listened to their female
intuition and connected with their inner strength despite adversity, are
empowering. They learned not to take “No.” for an answer and they refused to be
dismissed.

Be a squeaky wheel until
you are heard. And remember to laugh in the face of challenges. It transforms
you from victim to victor, takes away adversity’s power and transfers that
power to you.

We must balance our body
and spirit with conventional and intuitive practices for complete health and
wellness. Learning to embrace both is as easy as loving both. This in turn will
give us the strength to rise above being a victim of circumstances to become an
active participant in our journey through the follies of life.

In the words of the
esteemed Golda Meir, “Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you
will be happy to live with all your life.”